In the News

Despite the ongoing bull market, “investor confidence among the jet set took a nosedive last month.

June 5, 2017 4:07 p.m. ET

Despite the ongoing bull market, “investor confidence among the jet set took a nosedive last month,” write Financial Planning.

Specifically, millionaires’ confidence in May posted its biggest drop in 13 years, according to the Millionaire Confidence Index from Spectrem Group. The dropoff follows an April in which the cohort’s confidence was at a four-year high.

Behind the swing, Spectrem says, are the tumult in Washington and “significant doubt” about prospects for President Trump’s promised tax return. The proposed federal budget was also cited as a factor, Financial Planning says.

“Indeed, more than half of investors surveyed (54%) cited the political environment as the story in the news most affecting their economic outlook, dramatically greater than any other topic,” the publication writes.

Millionaires’ confidence now lies below that of the affluent investors for the first time in six years. Affluent households are those with $500,000 and up to invest.

That’s not to say that affluent investors’ confidence rose in May; rather, it fell a bit. Millionaire investors are now neutral about the market, whereas they were “mildly bullish” in April, according to Spectrem.

“Although non-millionaires also recorded a drop in confidence, the fact they are slightly more confident now than millionaires is a strong indication that we may be entering a tumultuous period for investors,” Spectrem President George Walper Jr. said in a press release, according to Financial Planning.